Nice to be here with like-minded people.
My wife and I have been feeding and watering birds for around 15 years--9 years in our present location. We scatter seed at night so they can find it early in the morning. It is costing around 30 bucks a week and is money well spent. The rewards are huge with the constant bird song and he humorous antics. The blackbirds are a bit destructive of the veggie gardens, but what the heck. We co-exist.
We also have bird baths and have several water troughs and tubs on the ground. I am amazed by how many times a day birds--especially the blackbirds, but also the murray magpies, bathe.
We have trees and bird friendly plants all around. The downside is that we can't go away on holidays. We'd feel mean if we did.
G'day bear, welcome to the forum.
I can't think of a better alarm clock than hearing birds waking you up every morning.
What sort of birds do you get? I'ld love to hear what birds visit, and if you get ones that are resident and/or irregular visitors.
You might find [link=http://www.amonline.net.au/birds/faq/index.htm]this page[/link] interesting. Its by amonline and has a section on feeding birds and attracting birds to your backyard
We have a lot of resident birds. There are several families of pigeons, sparrows, honey-eaters, blackbirds and murray magpies and a couple of willie wagtails. We also get casual visitors. There is not a great variety of bird life in our area. We are on the coast.
One pair of blackbirds have been with us for several years. We have named them Mr and Mrs Beaky. They are the hardest working birds I've ever seen. We also have our resident murray magpie family, Pew, Mrs Pew and this year young master Pew. Pew was a lonely birdie, but paired up this year and they had one baby. We love watching the young ones being taught to bathe and feed and, in the case of the blackbirds, being taught to fly.
I'm still trying to work out what exactly the bird species is that we call murray magpie. It's a small bird very magpie-like except for the size. Might be a pied butcherbird, but the feeding habits and behavour seem wrong. I've been trying to get a photo to put upon this site, but lack atelephoto lens and everything I've shot so far is way too small.
Hi Bear. I'm new too. We have blackbirds here and I agree, it's amazing how much time they spend bathing. They favour the birdbath just outside the window where I sit at my computer. I love watching them.
Thanks for the response. Your setup sounds lovely, but I don't think I could concentrate on anything if I had the little blighters bathing right outside my study window!